Lymington Twinners visit to MosbachSeptember 2011

Forty members of LITA visited Mosbach from 29th September to 3rd October 2011, most travelling by air from Southampton to Frankfurt. From there they were collected by coach and taken to the usual warm welcome from their hosts in Mosbach. The keynote of the whole weekend was the stunning weather, with cloudless blue skies and hot sunshine until the end of the last afternoon.

On their first full day members enjoyed a full day’s outing by coach to Würzburg, a city in the region of Franconia, in the northern tip of Bavaria, which lies on the river Main. This historic place has been well restored following air raids at the end of WW2 which destroyed 90% of the city. Some of the party visited the baroque Residenz, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, which was built for two prince bishops, with a fine formal garden. Others toured the town centre guided by two hosts, Hans and Dieter. Meeting up at the river, the group travelled by boat to Veitshöchheim, to visit the summer palace of the Würzburg prince bishops, which has a magnificent rococo garden. Returning by coach to Würzburg, the party was taken to the city’s Hofbräukeller for an evening meal and a chance to sample the brewery’s beers.

Saturday morning found some members touring the town with host Hans Happes, while others simply enjoyed the annual Pumpkin Market, before everyone gathered at the Town Hall to be welcomed by Oberbürgermeister Michael Jann and to partake of light refreshments. The afternoon was spent at leisure with hosts before the group met up again in the evening for an enjoyable dinner at a ‘Besen’, a farm-based Biergarten in the countryside a few miles from Mosbach.

Sunday was a free day, and the hosts took members to all kinds of interesting places in the area, from a beer festival at Stuttgart to a castle overlooking the Neckar near Heidelberg. In the evening some members and their hosts gathered at a Mosbach restaurant for dinner.

Monday morning meant taking leave of their hosts who had been so welcoming, as the group boarded the coach that would take them back to Frankfurt airport. But on the way they enjoyed a visit to Ladenburg, a delightful small town on the Neckar between Mannheim and Heidelberg which boasts Celtic and Roman remains. Some members undertook a guided walk with a local guide while others accompanied host Hans on a more relaxed stroll, taking in a coffee. The town’s most famous son is Carl Benz who spent the last 23 years of his life there. The guided walk included a visit to a small museum in the basement of his house, where they saw a model of his first car, documents and personal memorabilia. After lunch in a town centre restaurant, the group went by coach to the nearby Dr Carl Benz Museum, full of over 70 vehicles, round which the group was guided by an enthusiastic volunteer.

Finally it was time to return to Frankfurt for the plane home, and the pleasantly short trip from Southampton airport back to the Forest.